Feel a bit bad though, i knew i was nearing the end as i went into izlaith. So i kind of rushed it a bit towards the end - ( i do this with all games) - or rather i get tired and play for longer periods of time and keep making mistakes.

Struggled a bit on Gywn, so turned it off, made myself a curry and come back, beat him first time using the parry technique.

Overall a stunning game. A few issues - a couple buts of level design are just wrong - narrow ledges and items or enemies in a particular. Started to feel less invovled once i had the lord vessel and i also started to use a guide more often towards the end which kind of broke the spell - but at the same time enchanced my experience, experimenting with weapon upgrade paths etc.

But overall, the positives, by far outweigh the negatives. Challenging, but mostly fair gameplay. I havn't been this consumed by a game for ages. Felt so good Treats you has a game player with the ability to make a choice and put 2+2 together. Great atmosphere, design, everything! top top game.

Also got the dark lord ending... just walked out the room and finished! ( i researched this now and i lit the bonfire...(which i normally do all the time, odd that i just simply walked out! - guess i knew i had beat the game)

By the way, @lotos8tr - I see what you mean about artorias being hard and awesome. Ive only done a couple of attempts, and fk me, he's hard to avoid, but i'll keep going. Didn't see any summon signs though which is disappointing

@quadfather - yeah definitely. I found it a really tense fight as one mistake can/will put you out. Stamina regen seems to be key, so I went Cloranthy Ring and just never go for that second hit because in a split second he will have you.
I bet its a complete nightmare on NG+

@Lotos8ter - yup. I just did 3 goes without attacking to check it out. The bit where he does that 3 part attack is evil. Couldn't get out of the way of that. It reminds me of the false king allant fight in demons. Except way fucking harder! This is gonna take me a while

@joelstinton - 73 hours! Nice going! I remember you started this around the same time I did. I'm currently 50 hours in and just got to the 2nd Bonfire in Blighttown. Mind that my way of playing cost me a lot of time because I stuck to certain areas when it would have been better to move on (Sif cost me a lot of time, as well as the 1st Titanite demon).

also i think thats about par, 50 hours in blightown. I think when i finished that area i was 50 odd hours too .

Good luck! and godspeed! It is easy to get bog down in certain areas. I was really lucky with sif, i destroyed him much later on, so was fairly easy. i spent ages just on the end of undead burg and start of the old parish. was there for ages.